Berta

A Remarkable Dog

Berta the dachsund is an easy dog to love. She sleeps a lot and doesn't seem to be bothered by much of anything -- not even when Margery Miller's best friend Rosalind calls Berta a sausage dog. But Margery knows that one day, Berta will surprise everyone by doing something remarkable. And she does. It starts in early spring, when Berta suddenly becomes interested in the newborn chicks that Mr. Miller brings home to raise. Then she starts watching after the baby piglets in the barn. When the Millers are given a newborn lamb to raise, Berta immediately jumps into his box and protectively curls herself around him. She barks when it is time for his feedings, and she tries to lick him clean. Margery begins to piece it together: Berta wants to be a mother, and she has finally found a baby to look after! But a dachsund is an unusual mother for a lamb, particularly when it begins to grow. That's when Margery and her friends decide that he needs some help if he is going to learn how to be a sheep. This is an engaging story about animals and their human companions.